Week 33

And it was back to the hospital for us as week 32 came to a close and we began week 33.

Severe contractions on Sunday afternoon plus a strong sensation of the baby pushing down sent us running to the hospital. On the 15 minute ride to the hospital I could have sworn up and down that my water was going to break or that the baby was going to be born in the car.

We go to the hospital and my OB/GYN was waiting outside for us with a wheelchair and thankfully Arturo could tell him what was going on, because I was not doing well at this point.

My doctor did a pelvic exam and told me that I was effaced, but no dilated. So as long as they could control the contractions and keep me from dilating they wouldn't have to deliver the baby.

They got me in to a hospital room and hooked up to IV meds to help stop the contractions and gave me my calcium channel blockers via "oral injection" (meaning they poked a hole in the capsule, squeezed the liquid in my mouth under my tongue, and had me hold it there for about 2 minutes so that it would be absorbed directly and act more quickly). Within a couple of hours the contractions had diminished from what felt like every second to every 10 or 15 minutes and I was able to actually interact with the world around me.

The combination of medication they gave me eventually dropped my contractions to one per hour, which was enough for them to let me know that I could go home the following morning.

My mom spent the night with me in the hospital and Arturo went home for the night with Kesha.

At around 10:30 the next morning they took me down for an ultrasound to double check the baby's growth, size, and to check the placenta. It was so fun to see him so big. His hands and feet moving around, his spine, his head and face (to the extent that you can see it on a traditional ultrasound). However, the minute the ultrasound technician saw my placenta he went running to find my doctor (without telling me why, which was slightly alarming). My doctor hadn't arrived to his office yet, so we had to wait to find out what all of the commotion was about.

My doctor finally came up to my room to talk and sign my discharge papers at around 12:30.
Again, strict instructions.

• Mostly bed and sitting down, anywhere in the house is fine. I can walk around the house, but on a limited basis. No cooking, no cleaning, no lifting Kesha, no playing rough games, etc.
• Two medications simultaneously to stop contractions - progesterone once per day and calcium channel blockers every 6 hours
• Call if anything is out of the "norm"
• That I will be having weekly appointments until the baby is born
• Next Monday I will be having an advanced scan of some sort (I believe it is some sort of arterial doppler scan, but am not sure of the name) to take another look at the placenta
• I have to count baby movements every day for 1 hour (so from 10-11am every day I have to lay on my left side and do nothing but write down how many times the baby moves)

The placenta

A quick lesson... 

The placenta is important! It gives the baby everything it needs, and takes away everything it doesn't need. So if it doesn't do its job properly it can cause severe problems for the baby.

The placenta also grows with the baby. There are 4 stages to placental growth stage 0, stage 1, stage 2, stage 3.

A placenta is at stage 0 up until around week 30

Stage 1 through weeks 30-35

Stage 2 thought week 35-39

Stage 3 weeks 39 and on

(I found my information here on the placental stages breakdown)

I am 33 weeks pregnant, which means at the most I should have a stage 1 placenta. However, my placenta is far too mature for this point in my pregnancy. The entire placenta is a full 2 with many parts already being a 3 and a number of areas of calcification. The calcified areas can die and lead to a placenta that does not function as it should, diminishing the level of nutrients the baby receives and reducing the level of toxins removed from the uterus (also known as placental insufficiency). 

My doctor "aged" my placenta at 38-40 weeks and are concerned about the level of calcification they saw on the ultrasound. This combined with the preterm labor, constant contractions, and need for high levels of medication have them concerned and monitoring us carefully.

We will be happy to make it to 35 weeks gestation, and are keeping our fingers crossed that we can keep him cozy for another two weeks.

In the clinic after the drugs kicked in.